The present invention is directed to a fiber optic component cleaning device. More particularly, the present invention pertains to a fiber optic component cleaning device that is configured for cleaning fiber optic connectors having pin-type aligning elements.
Fiber optic transmission rates have increased from one gigabyte per second to a contemporary standard of ten gigabytes per second. Several networks predict transmission rates will reach forty gigabytes per second in the near future. Researchers are working to achieve transmission rates on the order of petabytes and terabytes per second.
In order to achieve, maintain, and even surpass these transmission rates, the transmission media (e.g., fiber optic conductors), must be fabricated and maintained to exacting standards and tolerances. During fabrication and manufacturing, and installation and testing, fiber optic component end faces frequently become contaminated with dirt, dust, oil, grease, and other debris. Cleaning the end faces preserves the accuracy of these very high-speed transmissions. In addition, the end faces of the conductors must be free of scratches, burrs, and the like to maintain the standards necessary for these high transmission rates. Moreover, soils and improper cleaning can also damage end face polish.
Various types of fiber optic connectors are known. Some of these connectors permit the joining of single optical fibers. Other types of connectors more efficiently permit the joining or connecting of multiple fibers in a single physical connector body. One type of connector, known as a small form factor (SFF) connector, in various configurations for multiple producers, includes a pair of block-like elements having opposing fiber optic end faces with multiple connecting channels. The block-like elements are aligned and mated to one another by aligning pin extending from one (male) connector body that insert or fit into a mating (female) connector. The end faces of these multiple fiber connectors and in particular the male end connectors (those connectors having) have proven to be somewhat more problematic in effectively cleaning.
Although many devices have been used to clean fiber optic end faces, they have met with differing degrees of success. Due to fibers and linting, paper products and like materials are avoided. Linting can be critical, as fibers obstructing an end face can cause loss of laser light transmission. Moreover, paper products cannot be used with a wet-cleaning technique in that the wetting products cause the paper materials to shred, exacerbating the linting problem.
Other cleaning devices include woven material enclosed within cartridge reels, exposing a very small portion of the reel as a cleaning surface. The extremely small size of these surfaces limits the cleaning process to short, small cleaning strokes. This method may result in damage to an end face, such as scratching. Moreover, the cartridge reel design does not allow for immediate disposal of the soiled cleaning surface. Instead, the dirty material is re-rolled back into the cartridge, potentially contaminating the unused material. In addition, these devices do not facilitate cleaning the end surfaces of SFF connectors.
Moreover, known, currently available cleaning devices cannot be used in conjunction with both dry and wet cleaning techniques, which are essential to effective end face cleaning. Wet cleaning requires a relatively large cleaning surface to allow a component to be drawn through a wet portion to a dry portion. The small cleaning surfaces area of existing devices does not provide sufficient area for both wet and dry sections. And, wet cleaning is impractical because winding wet cleaning material back into a cartridge can result in the contamination of the interior mechanism (and clean cleaning material) thus rendering such a device essentially useless.
Accordingly, there exists a need for a fiber optic cleaning device with a cleaning surface configured for cleaning small form factor connectors. Desirably, such a device leaves no residue on an end face and allows technicians to use a large cleaning stroke, with an integrated drying process, to reduce the likelihood of damaging an end face. Most desirably such a device also allows performance of both wet and dry cleaning techniques.